Building unit and structure formed therefrom



Oct. 17, 19.39. c. G. DUFFY BUILDING UNIT AND STRUCTURE FORMED THEREFROM 5 Sheets-Sheeti Filed Aug. 22, 1936 INVENTOR.

(kit. 1?, 1939. c. ca. DUFFY BUILDING UNIT AND STRUCTURE FORMED THEREFROM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Filed u 22, 1936 0a. 17, 1939. I c. 5. DUFFY 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 22, 1956 Oct. 17, 1939.

C. G. DUFFY BUILDING UNIT AND STRUCTURE FORMED THEREFROM- Filed Aug 22, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTIOR.

BY 12 Y ATTORNEYS Oct. 1,1, was I G1 G DUFFY 2,3?6213 v BUILDING UNIT AND STRUCTURE FORMED THEREFR OM Filed Aug. 22, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Q 1222mm.

44A- BY W ATTORNEYJ Patented bet. 17,1939

' UNITED STATES BUILDING UNIT AND STRUCTURE FORMED THEREFROM Charles G. Duffy, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Sealed Joint Products 00., Inc., a corporation of Delaware 1 Application August 22, 1936, Serial No. 97,474

. 13 Claims.

I This invention relates to building units of the type adapted to be laid up or arranged in courses to form a "wall structure and to the structuresformed therefrom. The instant application is a 5 continuation in part of my copending application,Serial No. 5,042, filed February 5, 1935 for Building units and structures formed therefrom. Wall structures of the character referred to have been constructed by first erecting a sup- .l porting framework of steel, iron or-other metal in the nature of a grid or lattice and members in the nature of tiles secured to the framework to provide the wall surface.

. The present improvements in their broadest 15 aspect contemplate building units adapted to be laid up in courses much in the manner of ordinary-brick, but which comprise each an individual hollow integral frame member, preferably composed of metal and closed at one or both faces 20 with tile elements firmly gripped adjacent their edges by the frame member.

Byway of illustration, several embodiments of the invention have been disclosed. In one, the hollow frame. is provided at its opposite edges 26' with beads arranged to engage in corresponding grooves formed in the edges of the facing members'. to secure the latter in place.

The facing members may be made of glass or other light transmittingmaterial, so as to pre- 80 sent the appearance of brick formed entirely of place by a swedging fit, but preferably adhesive tape with adhesive on both-sides is placed between the outer lateral faces of the boss and the in place.

Although the building units when completed will be air tight, they are not exhausted of air during manufacture. Consequently, to avoid'the condensation of .moisture from the entrapped air i on the inner-surfaces of the facing members, it is proposed to place a suitable desiccating material in the building units' during their-construction to r absorb such moistrure, thus keeping the inner inner faces of the frame, to secure the tiles firmly surfaces of the tile elements free of moisture at all times. 4

when strength is an important factor, the frame member of the'building unit may be reinforced by vertical columns, preferably of hollow 5 cylindrical construction, and the unit filled with. some material, such as gypsum, which not only will'lend lateral support to the columns, but in addition will act as a fire insulator of great merit.

Preferably, the building units are recessed or formed with channels in their edges between the tile elements to accommodate spacing members or reinforcing strips when the units are-laid up in place.

In another form of wall construction, structural 35 channel shapes are employed as horizontal and vertical spacing members, the horizontal members ,spanning as many courses as desired, and being-tied together by bolts located between the vertical courses so that actually the wall is one reinforced with steel.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an exploded view in perspective of a 'hollow building unit formed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial vertical sectional view taken through two adjacent building units of the character illustrated in Fig. 1; a

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the building unit similar to that shown in Fig. 1, wherein the frame memberis of a slightly difierent construction;

Fig. 4 is an elevation, partly in section, of a portion of a wall, showin g strengthening devices to give the wall'lateral support;

Fig.5 is a view in perspective, illustrating a wall construction embodying the building units shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective and partly exploded, showing another wall construction embodying the building units shown in Fig.

Fig. '7 is a vertical section taken on a line in Fig. 6 between two vertical courses of buildin units;

Fig. 8 is an elevational view, partly in section,

' of a building unit similar to that shown in Fig. 1.

but equipped with vertical columns for added strength;

'Fig. 9 is a plan view, partly in section, of the building unit shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is an elevational view, partly in section, of a building unit reinforced with vertical columns and filled with a material to give the columns lateral support;

Fig. 11 is an exploded view in perspective,

showing a different embodiment of a hollow building unit formed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 12 is a partial vertical sectional view through a plurality of building units of the type shown in Fig. 11; and

Fig. 13 is a partial'vertical sectional view, taken through two adjacent building units, and

illustrating a, construction employing a desiccat- In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5, there is provideda building unit A, consisting of a metal frame with its lateral faces adapted to be closed by facing members B made of glass, ceramic material, natural or artificial stone, wood blocks, metal or any other suitable material, which, for the sake of brevity, hereinafter will be referred to as tile. The frame itself includes a central portion A of suitable width provided at its edges with outwardly extending flanges A which, together with the central or main portion A of the frame, present a channel extending entirely around the frame member. The flanges A terminate in portions extending substantially at right angles thereto and are provided adjacent their edges with beads A adapted to project into corresponding grooves B formed in the peripheral edges of the facing elements B.

At their outer edges, the portions forming the beads are free and unrestrained and, as the material of which the frame is made has suflicient resiliency, the beads will yield substantially bodily to permit the facing members or tiles to be sprung into place and thereafter will return to engage in the grooves to grip the tile and hold it firmly in place, the outer faces of theflange portions A presenting shoulders or bearing surfaces,

against which the tile rests when in place.

The frame A, of course, could be constructed in various ways; for instance, it could be stamped up from fiat strips and bent into shape, or, as shown in Fig. 3, the flange and bead portions could be made up separately, inserted in the frame member and spot-welded or otherwise secured in position. When the frame structure is bent to shape, the bead and flange portions preferably are slit to facilitate forming the frame at the corners and in its finished condition, such structure will present notches a at the corners where the. beads would otherwise intersect. This arrangement permits the beads to act independently, and adds greatly to the ease with which the tiles can be snapped into place. Although the independent action of the beads just referred to is'very desirable, it is to be understood that a construction wherein the beads are continuous around the edges of the frame is not to be excluded from the scope of the invention.

As far as the broad aspect of. the invention is concerned, other means for securing the facing members or tiles in the frame could be employed. Thus, instead of employing the bead construction,

a swedging fit between the edges of the tiles and the adjacent portions of the frame could be utilized for gripping the facing members. Then, again,-it is conceivable that some material other than metal might be used for the frame, particularly in the main body portion thereof. Thus the body portion might be made of wood, and the edge portions carrying the beads secured in suitable manner thereto. In other words, any hollow composite building block having a frame member closed by facing members and of the general organization herein described, is within the purview of the invention.

One way in which the building units may be built into a wall structure is illustrated in Figs.

2 and 5. Mortar or other plastic material is applied around the sides of the units and the latter laid up in courses much in the same fashion as an ordinary partition-block or single thickness brick wall is built. To facilitate spacing, when desired, elements C may be used, composed of wood, fiber, asbestos composition, cork or other suitable material. The spacing members may be coated with an adhesive and fitted snugly into the opposed channeled recesses in adjacent units and, when such spacing elements are used, plastic material would be necessary only to point up the joints between the tiles.

With this construction, it is readily seen that in the event a tile forming the face of one unit is broken, replacement can be made without in any way affecting the rest of the structure, simply by removing the broken pieces, scraping out the mortar between the bead portions of the frame which had supported the broken tile and the bead portions supporting adjacent tile units to provide for the yielding movement of the beads, a new tile unit thereafter sprung into position and the 7 joints again pointed up A building unit formed in accordance with the instant invention not onlyds cheap to manufacture and easy to erect, but also presents sub stantially a metal wall frame structure in which the different units are thoroughly insulated one from another, since the tile members in a surface are each carried by an individual support distinct and separate from the supports of adjacent tiles. Of course, where the nature of the situation so requires, the wall structure may be reinforced by metal rods 0 running either horizontally or vertically, spanning any number of units as desired, and spaced say at about every third course. The rods could be embedded in the mortar between two adjacent courses, as shown in Fig. 4, or could be embedded in the spacing elements C, as shown in Fig. 5.

Aswill be seen, the embodiment of the invention just described has particular application where the facing members are made of glass, since with suchconstruction, a wall can be built capable readily of transmitting light without great interference from the frame members. Indeed,

by giving the inner surfaces of the frame mem-:

bers light reflecting properties, the light will be reflected down through the edges of the facing members and an effect obtained of a wall entirely illuminated. It will be understood that some types of construction may require only one facing member to be employed, and in such cases, the frame member is simply left open at one face.

Where the glass of which the tiles are made diffuses the light as it passes through, shadows which otherwise might be cast by the frame elements are eliminated, so that the face of the wall opposite that against which the light strikes will appear to be uniformly illuminated.

Another wall construction employing the improved building units A is illustrated in Figs. 6 and '7. The building units are in courses, as in the construction just described, but here the spacing members between the horizontal courses are structural channel shapes D fitt'ed into the channel portions defined by the flanges A The structural channel shapes D may span as many vertical courses of building units as desired, and

preferably are connected at their ends to uprights (not shown).

Extending in a vertical direction from one horizontal channel member to another and positioned'between adjacent building units are short channel spacing members D likewise fitted into the opposed channels presented by the flanges A of a pair ,of adjacent building units. flanges of the vertical channel spacing members are cut away at one end as at D to fit the flanges of the horizontal channel members, as clearly shown in Fig. 7. The horizontal channel members are tied together by means of bolts D threaded at one end and formed at the other with relatively long hex heads D which are drilled and tapped at the top; During erection, a horizontal course of building units is laid up supported by the underlying channel member and with-the intermediate vertical spacing members in place. Another horizontal channel member is then fitted in the channeled recesses of the units previously laid and fastened to the horizontal channel member below by means of the bolts 1) previously referred to, the lower ends 'of which are threaded into the tapped holes in the heads of the bolts next below, it being understood, of course, that the depth of the vertical channel spacing members is great enough for this purpose. When the wall structure has been com- A pleted, not only will the horizontal channel members be firmly secured one to the other, but in addition there will be in each intermediate vertical joint, a substantially integral reinforcing rod extending from the bottom of the wall or partition to the top.

'Another embodiment of the building unit, wherein strength and not the transmission of light is the important factor, is illustrated in Fig. 10. As shown in this figure, the frame memhere A are reinforced to carry a greater compressional load by means of vertically arranged hollow cylindrical columns F centrally located and extending between the top and bottom portions of the frame members. These columns may be embedded in a block F of suitable material, say gypsum, and theblock inserted in the frame member with a tight swedging fit. When such a construction is used, it will not be necessary to anchor the columns to the frame member,as they-will be held in position by the material in which they are embedded. The gypsum not only will act to lend lateral support to the columns against buckling, but also will serve as an exceptionally fine flre or heat insulator.

In the absence of the insulating material, the

I columns F may be secured in, position in the frame in any suitable way, one method being illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. Herein, as will be observed, a pair of strap members F are pro- It should be understood that the building unit if desired, could be provided with sound absorbing or heat insulating material, whether or not the reinforcing columns are used, and by way ofexample, rock wool is suggested as a sound absorbing medium and aluminum foil as a heat insulator. The rock wool would be placed in the unit, much in the same manner as the-block of gypsum, previously referred to, while the aluminum foil could be placed on the inner face of one or both of the facing members.

Still another embodimefit of the building unit is illustrated in Figs. 11, 12 and 13. Here there is provided a frame E which is. devoid of the flange and bead portions with which the embodiments previously described are equipped. The opposite faces of the frame member are closed by a pair of tiles E formed in their inner faces each with a boss or rib E extending entirely around the tiles and spaced somewhat inwardly from the peripheral edges thereof. The ribs on the tile elements are arranged to fit into the frame member E, and for this purpose are slightly tapered in their'outer lateral faces which li adjacent the inner faces of the frame member. If desired, the tiles could be held in the frame member by a swedging fit, but the preferred way of holding the tiles in place is to provide an inner lining of tape E for the frame member having adhesive on both sides, so that it will stick securely both to the frame member and the ribs on the tiles. Even with the ad hesive tape, the fit is a forced one, so that there will be no danger of the tiles dropping out.

The tiles in their peripheral edges extend beyond the outer faces of the frame, so as to present channels in the edges of the units for the accommodation of spacing members, as in the wall or partition constructions previously described, and mastic can be placed between the edges of tile elements in adjacent courses to give the effect of usual tile construction.

Since the building units are not exhausted during construction, some air will be entrapped in the interior thereof and, when certain weather conditions prevail, the moisture in the air will condense on the inner faces of the tile elements and, should the latter beglass, a cloudy buildwill still be comprised within its spirit. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment, except insofar as such limitations are. specified in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:'

1. A building unit of the character described,

consisting of an integral metal frame and a pair of facing members closing the frame to form a hollow unit, said frame being provided with yieldable means engaging the facing members to hold the latter in position.

2. A building unit of the character described, consisting of an integral metal frame and a pair of facing members closing the frame to form a hollow unit, said frame being provided with beads engaging in grooves formed in the edges of the facing units.

3. A building unit of the character described.

To obviate this undesired including, in combination, a facing member, an integral supporting frame member therefor, and reinforcing devices for the frame member.

4. A building unit of the character described, including, in combination, a facing member, an integral supporting frame member therefor, and reinforcing columns extending between portions of the frame members.

5. A building unit of the character described, including, in combination, an integral box-like frame member, facing members closing said frame member, and'insulating material within 8. A building unit adapted with others to be" laid up in courses to form a wall structure, said building unit comprising an integral frame member, a pair of facing elements arranged in parallel spaced relation at the opposite edges of the frame member to close the same and form a hollow unit,

and means on the frame member for gripping the facing elements at their edges, said frame mem-- ber providing the sole support for the facing members when the unit is laid up in the wall structure.

9. A building unit including, in combination, a

hollow integral preformed frame member forming the body portion of the unit and a tile element closing the frame member at one face thereof, said tile element being formed with means fitting tightly within the frame whereby it is secured in place. 10. A building unit including, in combination,

' closing the frame member at one face thereof,

said tile element being formed with means fitting within the frame, and an adhesive for securing said means to the inner side walls of the frame member.

12. A building unit including, incombination, an integral preformed frame member forming the body portion of the unit, and tile elements closing said frame member in its opposite faces to form a closed hollow unit, said tile elements being formed with boss means extending within the frame member and secured in place.

13. A building unit including, in combination, an integral preformed frame member forming the body portion of the unit, a pair of tile elements closing said frame member in its opposite faces to form a hollow unit, said tile elements being formed with boss means extending within the frame member, and an adhesive stripfor securing said boss means to said frame member.

CHARLES G. DUFFY. 

